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Lehigh Valley Health Network Colleague to Attend Jefferson for Architecture After Winning Bicentennial Scholarship

On Aug. 1, the system celebrates the one-year anniversary of the combination.

The mother-daughter pair of Missy and Jaqueline Vega share a special Jefferson-Lehigh Valley Health Network connection.

Jaqueline Vega wouldn’t open the email without her mom, Missy, by her side.

They huddled into an empty waiting area and read the anticipated message from Thomas Jefferson University together. It revealed that Jaqueline won the Bicentennial Scholarship. The honor, celebrating Jefferson’s 200th anniversary, gave Jaqueline a full ride to the University.  

“It was nothing but tears of happiness,” Missy says. “I was so proud of her.”

Her daughter cried too. “It felt unbelievable,” Jaqueline says. “I never pictured something like this happening.”

Their story almost took a tragic turn 10 years ago. Missy suffered a stroke while driving on Route 78. Fortunately, she safely pulled to the shoulder, and the ambulance took her to Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), where she made a full recovery.

“They saved my life,” Missy recalls. “I said, ‘When I get better, I’m going to work in this network.’”

And she did.

It felt unbelievable. I never pictured something like this happening.

Jaqueline Vega, Bicentennial Scholarship Winner and Incoming Architecture Student

Missy climbed from patient transporter to guest services concierge to now medical interpreter working for patient experience. She thanks her manager, Kelley Gold, LVHN director of guest services, for her constant support. Missy’s next goal: to become a medical practice manager.

Equally determined, Jaqueline will start Jefferson’s architecture program in August. She wanted to be an architect for as long as she can remember.

“I would drive past construction sites and found it fascinating,” says Jaqueline, who also works at LVHN as a nursing unit clerk.

She earned her associate degree in architecture at Northampton Community College (NCC). (Coincidentally, Jefferson partners with NCC, one of the many community colleges the University works with.) Another special connection, though, proved to be the crucial factor in Jaqueline’s interest in Jefferson.

Bruce Brumbaugh, NCC architecture professor and proud Class of 2019 Jefferson alumnus, suggested she consider Jefferson to continue her education. After learning more about the school, Jaqueline knew it would be the right choice.

Jaqueline Vega holds up her acceptance letter to Jefferson.

She was accepted for fall 2024 but made the difficult decision to take a year off. Jaqueline interned at SCF Architecture and BDA Architects during this gap year to build her resume and skills. The latter firm specializes in healthcare design, which allowed her to discover her interest in this area.

When the time came to reapply to Jefferson, Jaqueline heard about the Bicentennial Scholarship. The special merit-based program tied to the University’s 200th anniversary year offered 12 full‑tuition scholarships and 200 half‑tuition scholarships to incoming students across various programs.

The contest entailed her creating a three-minute video based on the prompt, “How Architects Improve Lives.” In her video, “The Architecture of Healing,” Jaqueline drew on her experience as an LVHN nursing unit clerk by discussing how architectural design could improve patient care, staff productivity and job satisfaction.

“When I’m on the units, I get to observe how all the healthcare providers, patients and visitors use these spaces,” Jaqueline explains.

Now, with the school year almost here, Missy knows the best is yet to come.

“My whole life is going to change,” she says, adding with a laugh about Jaqueline’s excitement. “She tells me every five minutes, ‘Mom, I’m going to Jefferson.’”

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